Big changes; our God is great

He is doing amazing things

Big changes; our God is great

He is doing amazing things

We have just finished a 12-session course of TransformArte. Sometimes we wonder about the results. Bere, one of the volunteers on the team, wrote the following:

Just like the others, Pedro* didn’t let his guard down. In the first sessions, he didn’t even look at us when we greeted him. He paid almost no attention. He reacts very quickly to the insults and abuse of his companions. In the 11th session, Pedro was the only boy who arrived on time so we started with just him. It was then that we saw the fruit of a lot of work. Pedro really got into the activities, and we loved seeing it. A while later other boys arrived and there were words and fights between them, as usual. Pedro left the group and didn’t want to participate anymore. After a few minutes, I went to him and asked what had happened. At first he told me that the kids were bothering him but then other feelings gushed out. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. When I’m 13, they’ll send me to the other building where the bigger boys are, and they’ll be messing with me all the time. Then when I’m 18, they’ll throw me out on the street.”

He told me he a bit of his story, a story of abuse and violence. I could see his fear. He doesn’t know what will happen to him after he turns 13. After this conversation, I understood his behavior, why he reacts aggressively. He needs security and the sense that he can trust someone. I told him never to forget what he had learned in TransformArte. I reminded him that he is unique and has great worth and that no one is better than anyone else ~ now that he knows these truths, he shouldn’t act like the other boys who don’t know the truth.

He nodded his head as if remembering all we had been learning in TransformArte. I realized something was moving inside him, and that expressing his feelings was part of his not wanting to keep on acting as before. Pedro wanted to change. I wanted to do more for him, but also was grateful for the opportunity to see what God is doing in him. After our brief but very important chat, he gave me a hug and left.

*not his real name

Making a drum: because the music is pleasing to God and is a way of expressing ourselves.

Making a comic: Showing our super-personalities.

Making a maze: Learning to make decisions and accepting the consequences.

Making a drum: because the music is pleasing to God and is a way of expressing ourselves.

Making a comic: Showing our super-personalities.

Making a maze: Learning to make decisions and accepting the consequences.

Moments of reflection in Dreams-Hermosillo

Gloria is a woman who decided to leave her country because her husband is ill, has lost a leg, and is unable to work.

Gloria made this dangerous decision to look for resources and to be able to provide a prosthesis for her husband. The day I met Gloria we reflected on how we face life. Do we think that our destiny is already set, and there is nothing we can do to change it? Do our choices affect outcomes? Is it possible to shape my future?

She could see that she could change her story if she discarded lies and exchanged them for Biblical truths. She is now convinced that God can help, and that there are other options and opportunities that don’t involve risking her life. She wants to find the best way to meet her family’s needs.